The ongoing adventures of a father who is finally finding the answers by dedicating himself to his family.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Go Climb a Rock

Inspired by our time in Ohio, N
and I went to the indoor rock climbing gym and had a blast. Now when we were
visiting R’s parents, the heat was excruciating. I fully acknowledge that I’m a big whiner
and a baby, but man was it hot, and humid. I’ve spent time in the south in the middle of summer, and
I’ll tell you right now, it is no different in Ohio. We did, however, manage to
temper the situation by living in the city pool.

It was a nice pool, though not
unlike most city pools that you see, with lanes for swimming laps and a shallow
end for wading. The pool in Ohio, however, had some other nice features. There
was a slide, which the kids loved, as well as a rock climbing wall in the deep
end. The way it worked was you climb the wall, and at any point along the way
to the top, or if you make it to the top, you can simply let go and fall in the
water. It was a ton of fun.

We all gave it a go, and initially
made it up about 1/3 of the way before falling in, but we enjoyed it. I watched
the teenagers do it, and they were good. Almost all of them made it to the top,
especially the girls, who climbed with no problem. At some point, I decided
that I’d like to make it to the top before we returned home.

We ended up at the pool almost
every day, so I had plenty of chances to practice my climbing, and by the
second day, I actually got to the top. What was nice was the teenagers watching
me were encouraging me, though it was mostly the girls. The guys couldn’t care
less if an old man climbed to the top. Anyway, it was fun, and by the last day,
I was pretty confident with the climb.

When we got back home, A was away
at video camp, so N and I had lots of time to hang and do things. One idea that
came up was the rock climbing gym in Quechee. It used to be called the Wall, but
then it closed and reopened as the Green Mountain Climbing Gym. It’s a nice way
to practice climbing, and it’s not cheap, but not expensive, either. I wasn’t
going to climb, it was just N, and I was the “belayer,” which is fancy climbing
talk for the guy who holds the rope. It gave me a good chance watch N do his
stuff, and he did a great job. In fact, he made it all the way to the top by
his 4th climb. To give you some perspective, it’s about 3 stories
up, and if you’ve ever been that high, hanging from a wall, no less, it can be
pretty precarious. N did a great job, I’m proud of him.

He did about a dozen climbs and
then we were done. I’m glad he enjoyed it, and I think A would like it, as
well. It’s a nice activity to do when it’s ugly outside, or for that matter,
painfully hot. Yes, it gets that was up here, though not nearly as bad as the
Midwest.

Until the next time, thanks for
reading, and thanks to (adam) THEO for the pic.